1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia SS “Elaborata”

The Sprint Speciale came to life under the hand of Bertone designer Franco Scaglione.

You can trace its lineage back to the Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnicas, AKA B.A.T.

The three concept cars were groundbreaking in their aerodynamics. So was Alfa’s premier offering with a drag coefficient of just 0.28. This was one slippery design—it would be 20 years before other production cars would be able to achieve that number.

The first 101 Giulietta SSs built were the “Low Nose” design. A minimum of 100 had to be built to homologate the SS for FIA regulations. Some of these had all aluminum bodywork, while others had a steel body and aluminum used for the doors hood and trunk lid. These were powered by a 1.3-liter, DOHC, 4-cylinder motor with 40 DCO3 carburetors.

Changes for the production cars included steel doors, no plexiglass windows, a higher nose and bumpers and 40 DCOE2 Webers.

 In 1963, another change gave the SS a new name. A 112-hp, 1.6-liter engine able to push the SS to 120 mph was installed. Another improvement: front disc brakes. The SS was no longer the diminutive Giulietta—it was now the Giulia!

Numbers? 1,366 Giulietta Sprint Speciales were built, while 1,400 of the more powerful Giulias were produced. By count alone, these are relatively rare autos.

For a long time—and to many—the Sprint Speciale was the unloved, red-headed stepchild. The Giulia Sprint Veloce was the collectible. The SS didn’t really have a premium over—for lack of a better word—more “pedestrian” Alfas.

Things started changing, though, and the Sprint Speciale once again was lifted onto an Alfisti pedestal. As a result—you don’t go messing with them. Their design is sacrosanct. If you make changes, it would be like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa, or telling Marilyn to hold her dress down! But many still have their own ideas of how to do things and where the beauty lies.

Tom “Zat” Zatloukal raced and restored Alfas.

Zat loves Alfas, he just wants to make them gofaster! He started out building a high-performance, lightweight SSfor himself.  The steel body was wider and lower then stock and was running a 3.0 V6 Alfa motor. The hot rod was not shunned at Alfa events; in fact, people started placing orders. So Zat isn’t exactly alone in his thinking.

That’s what brings me to this 1965 “Elaborata” Giulia SS.

 The builder is tipping his hat to the “Zat” SSZs. It’s been hot-rodded, modified, or desecrated— all depends on which set of eyes are gazing on it.

All bumpers and extraneous chrome have been removed. The wheel wells have been radiused and given a lip. The front fenders have been smoothed with the removal of the arrow eyebrow over the wheel. The Vredestein-shod TZ wheels have also been moved out flush with the fenders to give a better stance. The only change to the interior is a set of modified Recaro seats. Although they take up more space they don’t seem so out of place, and they hold you nicely and put you in a marvelous driving position.

The engine and transmission, unlike Zat’s creations, are original to the car. Current owner Mike Bruno was attracted to the car as it is. He’s not a purist, he has other cars that have been breathed on, and he also has ones that are just like when they left the factory. The personality of this Sprint Speciale just spoke to him. When the car arrived, it was beautiful but lacked guts. That was taken care of at Dominick European Car Repair in White Plains, NY. With a slightly hotter cam and a really good tune-up, the SS was now show…and go.

You don’t really need an excuse to drive an Alfa, but when you get to take a nice long drive on The Domenico & Tindara Memorial Drive against cancer, you don’t have to think twice.

It’s an all-around fun machine, and it has no problem keeping up with traffic, you just have to be aware of people getting too close, trying to get a better look. Once off the main roads and onto a sun-dappled country route, chasing around with a few other Alfas, the joy flows right through the steering wheel. You think where you want to go and it does your bidding. The car feelslight almost to the point of fragile, but it’s made of sterner stuff. The wonderful guttural growl coming from the exhaust makes you down shift and hit the gas so you can listen to the tune once more. The brakes make you anticipate a bit, but this is not a young car, so you let that slide. The greenhouse is open with lots of visibility, so there is plenty to see. With no side mirrors and only the compact size rearview to lend a hand, you go by the first rule of Italian driving: “What’s behind you is not important!” At the same time, the SS just does everything right. I didn’t even mind going the wrong direction on the second part of the run; it gave me more seat time. So long as you have gas and spark, it’s great fun to get lost in this Spinta Alfa.

It may not to be to everyone’s taste, but to me (don’t hate me) it’s a tasty ride!

Thank you, Mike Bruno, for sharing the joy.

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